Associated PressRyan Howard of the Philadelphia Phillies strikes out against the Mets on Saturday.

Don't look now - OK, look, if only to divert your attention from the Red Sox - but Boston is not the only baseball team staggering toward the playoffs.

The Philadelphia Phillies, anointed in spring training along with the Sox to advance to the World Series (it could have been called "The Entitlement Series"), have dropped eight straight games. True, they've already clinched the National League East while the Sox, mathematically at least, could still finish out of the playoffs. But the Phillies aren't exactly heading into October with momentum on their side.

In their latest setback, a dropped fly ball led to five unearned runs and a 6-3 loss to the New York Mets on Saturday. Making matters worse, earlier in the day the Phillies were no-hit for seven and a third innings in a 2-1 defeat.

Sloppy fielding?

An anemic offense?

Losing to inferior competition (see: Orioles, Baltimore)?

Sounds kind of familiar.

While Boston's faithful worry about a history-making collapse by their team, Philadelphia has already made history - the first team to lose eight straight after clinching a post-season berth.

By the way, the last time the Phillies lost eight straight games their manager was Terry Francona.

"Do we have time? We'll see," current Phillies skipper Charlie Manuel told Ray Parillo of the Philadelphia Inquirer after Saturday's second loss. "It'll be a test of how good we are. This is the first time this year that we've actually gone bad. It's not a real good time to go bad. At the same time, this will be a good measuring stick for us. We created this ourselves, so we'll see."

Yes, these are the Phillies with the starting rotation of Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt, Roy Halladay and Corey Hamels, who dropped the opener on Saturday. What do they think about the sudden futility?

"I know the pitchers . . . we're ready to go," Hamels said. "We're going to go out there and try to throw nine-inning shutouts. I know it's not possible, but that's our plan, so everybody just needs to get on board."

Interesting way to put it. As Parillo noted, this is the same team whose hitting dried up in last year's playoffs.

At least Hamels, often derided as a California pretty boy, stood up and said ‘enough of this bleep.’

It’s okay to remind ourselves that this is spring training and that these games don’t count. But how the players perform does count. When Chase Utley and Shane Victorino go to the plate, they’re trying to get hits. They’re not saying ‘hey, it’s just an exhibition game.’ So let's dismiss the argument that it's spring training in September.

"We know we're better than that," Shane Victorino said. "We know we're a good team. That's it. I'm not worried. Yeah, you lose eight in a row, people are going to panic and it is close to the postseason, but no, I'm not worried."

"We've had 33 games in 31 days," Ryan Howard said. "I don't know how many times this month that we've had our regular lineup. You're having to mix and match and throw guys into different situations, and teams are going to pitch guys different depending on who is behind who. When you can get it set up the way you want it, the regular lineup. ... If this team even gets semi-going it's a dangerous team, this offense. That's all you have to do. Baby steps. Tell [the fans] to relax, don't panic. If we're not panicking, they shouldn't panic."

Philadelphia fans - enter the obligatory reference to how Eagles fans once pelted Santa Claus with snowballs - are venting their frustrations. Among their comments from an assortment of blogs:

Tired of hearing that these games are “meaningless.” Exactly how confident are they going to be at the plate a week from now, if they don’t at least sniff something like positive momentum?

I sure hope that they can flip a switch and take care of business starting next Saturday, or it will make for a very long off-season!! Trying to keep the faith, but definitely not as confident as I was a week ago!!

Now it's getting stupid. Now the Phils probably need to bag a couple of wins for their own sakes, and I think they will because the rotation is built to stop losing streaks.

What troubles me most about this skid really isn't the pitching. It's not the errors. It's not even the streaky hitting. It's the total lack of a sense of urgency from these guys. I really almost wonder if they don't believe they're in a race. This team, for all its talent - seems really soft mentally.

Oh, wait. That last comment was posted on MassLive about the Red Sox. I guess it's true that misery loves company. Speaking of which, if you'll excuse me, I need to check the Mets' magic number.